For decades, one of the most persistent pieces of Billy the Kid lore was that the outlaw was left-handed. The belief was reinforced by Gore Vidal's earlier teleplay about Bonney, later used as the basis for the Paul Newman western The Left Handed Gun, and by the popular image of Billy wearing his holster on the right side while appearing to hold a weapon in his left hand. The apparent evidence, however, came from a photograph that had accidentally been printed in reverse. Once the image was correctly examined, historians concluded that Billy was right-handed, turning the famous left-handed identity into a photographic error that had been repeated through books, films, and television. Vidal revisited the story in the 1989 television film because he believed the earlier screen version had distorted his material, but the later production also stood in the shadow of the old myth: Val Kilmer's portrayal of William Bonney was designed to reflect the historical figure rather than the cinematic legend. The episode is a classic example of how a technical mistake in reproducing a photograph can become accepted history and then be reinforced by Hollywood for generations.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1950s-1980s
The Photograph Flip That Made Billy the Kid Famous as a Left-Handed Gunman
Billy the Kid / Gore Vidal's Billy the Kid / 1950s-1980s
For decades, one of the most persistent pieces of Billy the Kid lore was that the outlaw was left-handed. The belief was reinforced by Gore Vidal's earlier teleplay about Bonney, later used as the basis for the Paul Newman western The Left Handed Gun, and by the popular image of Billy wearing his holster on the right side while appearing to hold a weapon in his left hand. The apparent evidence, however, came from a photograph that had accidentally been printed in reverse. Once the image was correctly examined, historians concluded that Billy was right-handed, turning the famous left-handed identity into a photographic error that had been repeated through books, films, and television. Vidal revisited the story in the 1989 television film because he believed the earlier screen version had distorted his material, but the later production also stood in the shadow of the old myth: Val Kilmer's portrayal of William Bonney was designed to reflect the historical figure rather than the cinematic legend. The episode is a classic example of how a technical mistake in reproducing a photograph can become accepted history and then be reinforced by Hollywood for generations.
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